hán
verb HSK 4 #5,050

Meanings

  1. 1 to hold in the mouth
  2. 2 to contain
  3. 3 to harbor (feelings)

Examples

Tā hán zhe yǎnlèi shuō le zàijiàn.
She said goodbye with tears in her eyes.
Zhèzhǒng shuǐguǒ hányǒu hěnduō wéishēngsù.
This kind of fruit contains a lot of vitamins.
Tā hán zhe tángguǒ xiào le.
He smiled with a candy in his mouth.

Tips

usage
can be physical (holding something in the mouth) or abstract (containing or harboring). 含泪 means 'with tears in one's eyes'.
memory
The character shows (now) over (mouth) — something held in the mouth right now.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Mouth radical at the bottom anchors the literal sense — to hold something in the mouth, like a candy or a tear. The image extends naturally to figurative containing: 含义 implication, 含泪 with tears, 含蓄 reserved. What is 'now in the mouth' is contained by it.
phonetic
jīn
now (here phonetic)
Top is 'now', here serving as phonetic — jīn drifting to hán via the j/h alternation common in this series ( ). The same phonetic grouping appears in 'to think of' and 'to crave'; the family hangs together by a held-in, contained feeling.

Stroke Order

hán